Scottish Catholic Observer

by Amanda Connelly

The church will host a photographic exhibition every day in August, a project named The Joy of Creation by Michael Ashley, which festival goers are welcome to come and view.

Also too will Understanding Versus Sympathy, a film about the late James Connolly, Irish republican and socialist leader and one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day, be on show in the Memorial Room. Produced by renowned contemporary Scottish artist Roddy Buchanan and featuring historian Owen Dudley Edwards, the film documents the early life of the Cowgate man born to Irish parents in Edinburgh, and his political doings before his role in the Easter Rising of 1916. The film will be shown continuously from 10am-6pm every Sunday until August 28.

The excitement continues off-screen and onto the stage with live performances of Stephen Callaghan’s, director of the Archdiocese of Glasgow Arts Project (AGAP) two plays: Among Women (August 13 and 14. 7:45pm) and The Margaret Sinclair Story (above) (August 6-12, 7:45 and August 9-11, 3pm). Among Women follows the lives of four very different women from contrasting backgrounds, who all come to reflect on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary in what are moving and sometimes humorous journeys for each of the women, while one-woman plau The Margaret Sinclair Story, starring rising Glasgow actress Maryfrances Jennow, tells the story of St Patrick’s own Venerable Margaret Sinclair, from her humble, impoverished beginnings in the Cowgate to her ultimate entry to the Order of Poor Clares as Sr Mary Frances of the Five Wounds, where she cared for the sick until her death from tuberculosis in 1925.

As well as the artistic shows on offer, Time Out – Discovering Mercy is also available to visitors from August 22-26 at 4-5pm, where there will be important opportunities for prayer and reflection amidst the busy Festival crowds of Edinburgh, based on the Corporal Works of Mercy for those who wish to attend, which will be led by parishioners.